Since it purchased Lucasfilm last year, Disney have made some pretty big changes in the Lucas landscape. Not only did they announce a new Star Wars trilogy and the move of Star Wars comics to Marvel, but today they announced that they are closing down fan favourite LucasArts as a development company to instead license out their titles.
In an official statement Disney said: “After evaluating our position in the games market, we’ve decided to shift LucasArts from an internal development to a licensing model, minimizing the company’s risk while achieving a broader portfolio of quality Star Wars games. As a result of this change, we’ve had layoffs across the organization. We are incredibly appreciative and proud of the talented teams who have been developing our new titles.”
The House of Mouse laid off 150 people this morning and both their current projects Star Wars: First Assault and Star Wars 1313 have been cancelled.
Not only did LucasArts produce great Star Wars games such as the Super Star Wars series on the SNES and Star Wars: Rebel Assault on the N64, they were also known for their superb point and click games like Grim Fandango, Day of the Tentacle and Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis.
Originally published April 3, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
